Koboshi kabuto

A russet iron samurai helmet with small standing rivets

Edo period, 17th century

Signed: Jōshū jū Saotome Ietada

常州住早乙女家忠

A russet iron (tetsu sabiji) sixty-two plate kabuto, each mounted with twenty-five small tapered standing rivets (ko-boshi) of decreasing size; the front plate, larger than the others, is fitted with two lines of rivets, while the rear one is left empty, for a total of 1.550 rivets.
The typical "Saotome-byo" is visible under this lining, an extra rivet which is almost an additional signature of the Saotome armorers.

The shikoro (neck guard) is three-plate, of a rare lobed shape.  

Ietada, of which existed few generations, is considered to be the founder of the Saotome school, which takes its name from the village in the Hitachi province where it originated. According to the Meiko Zukan, the most important antique manuscript about Japanese armor, it was in fact created by Saotome Chikara, a samurai at the service of the Tagaya clan who started this activity after he became a ronin. The Tagaya clan were stripped of their 60,000 koku holdings after the Sekigahara battle due to their defection to the Uesugi clan, so it is probably after 1600 that Ietada - the name that Chikara choose to sign his works - founded the Saotome school, even if it is unclear how he managed to learn such skill in manufacturing helmets.